American Jazz Piano Great Ahmad Jamal Dead at 92

In this file photo taken on August 04, 2016 US jazz pianist and composer, Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones) performs during a concert in the Marciac Jazz Festival in Marciac. (AFP)
In this file photo taken on August 04, 2016 US jazz pianist and composer, Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones) performs during a concert in the Marciac Jazz Festival in Marciac. (AFP)
TT
20

American Jazz Piano Great Ahmad Jamal Dead at 92

In this file photo taken on August 04, 2016 US jazz pianist and composer, Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones) performs during a concert in the Marciac Jazz Festival in Marciac. (AFP)
In this file photo taken on August 04, 2016 US jazz pianist and composer, Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones) performs during a concert in the Marciac Jazz Festival in Marciac. (AFP)

Ahmad Jamal, a towering and influential US pianist, composer and band leader whose career spanned more than seven decades and helped transform jazz, pop and hip-hop, has died at age 92.

Jamal released about 80 albums, building friendships and influence with greats such as Miles Davis, and was sampled by rappers including Nas, helping to lure a larger pop audience to jazz.

He won myriad awards over the course of his career, including France's prestigious Ordre des Arts and des Lettres in 2007 and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.

Born Frederick Russell Jones in a humble suburb of Pittsburgh in 1930, he first sat down at a piano when he was three years old and began studying music seriously when he was seven.

He converted to Islam and changed his name when he was 20, though he avoided the more political side of the era's Black Power movement, putting his focus on a "search for peace".

The jazz scene he entered in the 1950s was often characterised by a hectic, explosive style.

By contrast, Jamal's playing was spartan and reserved, surprising his audience with long empty stretches, sudden breaks and romantic flourishes.

It took a while for people to catch on.

"His musical concept was one of the great innovations of the time, even if its spare, audacious originality was lost on many listeners," the New Yorker wrote last year.

But many were paying close attention.

Though they never collaborated, Davis often paid homage to Jamal. In his autobiography, Davis wrote: "(Jamal) knocked me out with his concept of space, his lightness of touch, his understatement, and the way he phrased notes and chords and passages."

He worked in a trio -- most notably with bassist Israel Crosby and drummer Vernel Fournier with whom he recorded his breakthrough album, 1958's "Ahmad Jamal at the Pershing: But Not for Me", which stayed on the Billboard magazine charts for more than 100 weeks, becoming one of the best-selling instrumental records of its time.

'Alternative universe'

US music critic Ted Gioia wrote that Jamal "opened up an alternative universe of sound, freer and less constrained than what we had heard before. The rules of improvised music were different after he appeared on the scene."

"The Awakening" from 1970 developed the sound -- "a fine example of Jamal's stately and understated elegance" in the words of Pitchfork -- but it also had a long afterlife, influencing hip-hop artists in the coming decades, sampled most famously by Nas on his 1990s hit "The World is Yours".

Jamal never stopped experimenting, bringing in explosive percussionist Manolo Badrena in the 1990s and still recording critically lauded work into his late 80s.

"I live an exciting life, and when you live an interesting life, you keep discovering," Jamal told AFP during a visit to France in 2012.

"Musicians blossom and build themselves. Some basic things are still there in my music, the melodic sense for example, but the density of sound has changed with age, and the rhythmic part has become more elaborate," he added.

His death, reportedly from prostrate cancer, was confirmed to US media by his family.



‘Lilo & Stitch’ Passes ‘Sinners’ to Become 2nd Highest Grossing Film of 2025

Chris Sanders, Billy Magnussen, Zach Galifianakis, Maia Kealoha, Sydney Agudong, Courtney B. Vance, Kaipo Dudoit, Amy Hill and Stitch attend a premiere for the film "Lilo & Stitch" in Los Angeles, California, US, May 17, 2025. (Reuters)
Chris Sanders, Billy Magnussen, Zach Galifianakis, Maia Kealoha, Sydney Agudong, Courtney B. Vance, Kaipo Dudoit, Amy Hill and Stitch attend a premiere for the film "Lilo & Stitch" in Los Angeles, California, US, May 17, 2025. (Reuters)
TT
20

‘Lilo & Stitch’ Passes ‘Sinners’ to Become 2nd Highest Grossing Film of 2025

Chris Sanders, Billy Magnussen, Zach Galifianakis, Maia Kealoha, Sydney Agudong, Courtney B. Vance, Kaipo Dudoit, Amy Hill and Stitch attend a premiere for the film "Lilo & Stitch" in Los Angeles, California, US, May 17, 2025. (Reuters)
Chris Sanders, Billy Magnussen, Zach Galifianakis, Maia Kealoha, Sydney Agudong, Courtney B. Vance, Kaipo Dudoit, Amy Hill and Stitch attend a premiere for the film "Lilo & Stitch" in Los Angeles, California, US, May 17, 2025. (Reuters)

“Lilo & Stich” and “Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning” dominated the box office charts again after fueling a record-breaking Memorial Day weekend. Theaters in the US and Canada had several new films to offer this weekend as well, including Sony’s family friendly “Karate Kid: Legends” and the A24 horror movie “Bring Her Back.” According to studio estimates Sunday, it added up to a robust $145 million post-holiday weekend that’s up over 115% from the same timeframe last year.

Disney’s live-action hybrid “Lilo & Stitch” took first place again with $63 million from 4,410 locations in North America. It was enough to pass “Sinners” to become the second-highest grossing movie of the year with $280.1 million in domestic ticket sales. Globally, it's running total is $610.8 million. “Sinners,” meanwhile, is still going strong in its seventh weekend with another $5.2 million, bumping it to $267.1 million domestically and $350.1 million globally.

The eighth “Mission: Impossible” movie also repeated in second place, with $27.3 million from 3,861 locations. As with “Lilo & Stitch,” that's down 57% from its opening. With $122.6 million in domestic tickets sold, it’s performing in line with the two previous installments. But with a reported production budget of $400 million, profitability is a ways off. Internationally, it added $76.1 million (including $25.2 million from China where it just opened), bringing its global total to $353.8 million.

Leading the newcomers was Sony’s “Karate Kid: Legends,” with an estimated $21 million from 3,809 locations. The movie brings Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio together to train a new kid, the kung fu prodigy Li Fong (Ben Wang). Chan starred in a 2010 reboot of the 1984 original, while Macchio has found a new generation of fans in the series “Cobra Kai,” which just concluded a six-season run.

Reviews might have been mixed, but opening weekend audiences gave the PG-13 rated film a strong A- CinemaScore and 4.5 stars on PostTrak. It also only cost a reported $45 million to produce and has several weeks until a new family-friendly film arrives.

Fourth place went “Final Destination: Bloodlines,” which earned $10.8 million in its third weekend. The movie is the highest-grossing in the franchise, not accounting for inflation, with $229.3 million globally.

The weekend’s other big newcomer, “Bring Her Back” rounded out the top five with $7.1 million from 2,449 screens. Starring Sally Hawkins as a foster mother with some disturbing plans, the film is the sophomore feature of twin filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou, who made the 2023 horror breakout “Talk to Me.” It earned a rare-for-horror B+ CinemaScore and is essentially the only new film in the genre until “28 Years Later” opens on June 20.

A new Wes Anderson movie, “The Phoenician Scheme,” also debuted in New York and Los Angeles this weekend, where it made $270,000. It expands nationwide next weekend.

The summer box office forecast remains promising, though there’s a long way to go to get to the $4 billion target (a pre-pandemic norm that only the “Barbenheimer” summer has surpassed). The month of May is expected to close out with $973 million – up 75% from May 2024, according to data from Comscore.